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Month: September 2008

The USS Intrepid is due home (Pier 86 in NYC) this Thursday, October 2nd. Hopefully her trip will be less eventful than her 2005 departure when she ended up making an unscheduled interim port of call about 10 feet off the isle of Manhattan.

It was all closely chronicled below in the videos below from the History Channel’s popular MegaMovers. It’s an inside look at some professional maritime problem solving with some really great footage. Enjoy!

Make sure that you watch MegaMovers on October 17th (11 am or 5 pm) for their Ships on Land episode.

I’ve previously written about how nautical language has drifted into our every discourse. (here, here and here)

Well, this week we heard a maritime metaphor of Titanic proportions when, according to Michael Phillips of the Wall Street Journal, Fed Chairman Ben Bernacke was quoted as saying:

Americans must understand that the bailout — itself a maritime metaphor — would help save everyone from rising financial flood waters.

“It’s really a question of saying, ‘There’s a hole in the boat. You did it. Why should I help you?’ ” he said at the Senate hearing. “Well, there’s a hole in our boat. We need to fix it, and then we need to figure out how to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Understatement of the Century!

I know these guys are under a lot of pressure but please can’t they come up with something better than a “hole in our boat.”

Lord Nelson probably didn’t envision the future of his flagship when he first uttered that now famous phrase. But that appears to be the case today.

Much of the UK media has recently reported that the Royal Navy is contemplating selling one of the worlds most storied ships and a certified maritime treasure in order to save money. Every year it costs more than $2 million to maintain her and that’s before taking into consideration any major restoration work. But how can you place a value on an iconic vessel that helped define the strong maritime heritage of this island nation.

One has to wonder if this is just a plea by the Ministry of Defence to find a sugar daddy like the Cutty Sark recently did. For a country with such a wonderful maritime heritage, this seems a little cheesy. Next thing you know, we’ll find her on Craiglist, if not for sale, maybe looking to rent some cabin space?